Trayser Piano Company upright

Today at the church my scout troop meets in, my patrol met in a different room then usual. Ive never been in this room before but it has a large, very old upright in it. After lifting the key lid I found the brand name to be "Trayser Piano Company Richmond Indiana"
A quick google search told me that this brand was the forerunner of the starr piano company, who made my old upright I used to have. very interesting stuff, at least to me
anywhoo, I didnt get a chance to play it very long since Im not really supposed to (general rule is we arent allowd to play the church pianos, although I might ask if can sometime) but the bit I did play was really amazing! for its apparent age and location I wouldnt figure the church would bother getting stuff done to it, but it sounded amazingly in tune, good touch, GREAT sound, way better then I expected... I was rather impressed, mostly because I figured it would be horribly out of tune. it was very enjoyable to play on! the next time im ther I will try to get a serial number. I shall ask for permission to play longer, I am quite fascinated with this piano!

Cool!

There is a church where I used to have recitals at. It has an old piano that they use as a door prop, literally. Its a huge upright. taller than I have ever seen before. It must be at least 60"

I dont recall the brand because the key cover was very creaky when opening, and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to really be touching it. So I never fully opened the key cover.

It was a very ornate piano. It had through-wood carvings, with red screening behind, and large carved legs.

It may have been a weber because it looked very much like this- https://antiquepianoshop.com/product/293/weber-mahogany-victorian-upright-piano/deposit/
But it had more carvings, and the side of the piano was similar to my S&C with 1/2 columns.

I would still give anything to go over there and take it home with me! They also had an old krakauer ornate upright up in the gathering hall, but that was still used daily.

Around the turn of the century before last (1900), there were roughly 300 to 400 piano manufacturers in the US. Hundreds of thousands of large uprights were made, and the materials used were generally good quality, which is why many of them are still holding together. Trayser was in business from 1849 to 1884, when Starr bought them. This is just one of hundreds of company names that went out of business long ago.

Players were the home entertainment center of the day. Radio became popular about 1918, and then with the Great Depression of 1929, piano manufacturing dropped off significantly.

Krakauer was made in New York City. I owned one of their grands once.

--Cy--